1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for assembling electrical wire harnesses.
2. Description of the Related Art
The prior art does disclose a few devices for assisting in the assembly of electrical wire harnesses. The Panduit Corporation of Tinley Park, Illinois produces a line of harness board accessories including wire retainers, corner posts, harness board nails, T-junction fixtures, fanning strip systems, wire end holders and spring wire break-out devices. Those devices are further described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,029,277 and 4,337,934, both assigned to the Panduit Corporation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,194,279 and 3,258,039 disclose other types of holders and supports employed for forming wire harnesses. Similarly, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 20, No. 12, May 1978, page 5141 discloses a related retainer mechanism for forming wire harnesses.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,627 discloses a technique for assembling wire harnesses and identifying which wires go where.
The following prior art patents are also believed to be of interest but of less relevance: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,024,301; 3,409,971; 3,540,110; 3,839,777; 3,872,547; 3,872,549; 3,905,570; 3,949,457; 4,009,852; 4,099,852; 4,278,223 and 4,300,284.
While many prior art devices are useful, they appear to suffer from two major shortcomings. First of all, it normally takes more than one step to remove the harness from the assembly board and to place it in a chassis.
Secondly, while rudimentary techniques do exist for directing the proper placement of the electrical wires that comprise a harness, none has yet performed the function in an efficient and electrically automated fashion.